A lottery is a contest in which people pay for the chance to win a prize, such as money or goods. It is most often associated with state-sponsored gambling, but it can also be used in decision-making situations like sports team drafts or the allocation of scarce medical treatment. In the case of the latter, it provides a semblance of fairness that might otherwise be lacking.
While lottery prizes can be anything, the most common are money. A prize is won by a random drawing of participants, which may be conducted either by hand or with the help of a computer system. There are also “electoral” lotteries in which a number of people are chosen at random to represent their district or constituency in a legislative assembly or other political body.
The word lottery probably derives from Middle Dutch loot or lotte, meaning fate, and is also a calque on the French word loterie, referring to the drawing of lots for military conscription or commercial promotions (though the strict definition of a lottery includes payment for the chance to win). In the modern sense, the word has come to refer to any contest in which winners are selected at random.
Many people see buying a lottery ticket as a low-risk investment, even though the chances of winning are very small. Yet the purchase of tickets adds billions to government receipts that could have been saved by lottery players if they had spent those dollars on something else, such as retirement or college tuition.
